Wool and whimsy in the frozen North.

Sorry for the radio silence- this job hunt has taken some interesting turns and I’ve been sort of caught up in it. Michael’s offered me the job, but I ended up not accepting because they hadn’t been honest with me about how many hours I’d get- plus I realized that it would be smarter for me to just go back to working a full time desk job to pay off my student loans, and THEN think about school.

Anyway, I’ve been busy aside from the job hunt, with knitting and reading. Also my family’s third craft retreat was last weekend, so that was lovely.

First, here’s the full finished pair of Violin Socks.

The picture of the violin cables down the front is in the previous entry, below. These were knit on size US 1.5 needles with Malabrigo Sock.

Second, here’s my niece’s birthday present (if you know my niece and see this, please take care she doesn’t see! I do want it to be a surprise for her birthday). It’s Sprite in size 3-4T, knit on size 3 and 6 needles, in Knitpicks Cotlin and Comfy (in Lantana and Honeydew, respectively).

My last recent FO is my favorite by far. Celaeno, in Yarn Pig (colorway Midnight Sky, and this isn’t a commercially available yarn- I got it in a swap with the dyer) on size US 5 needles.

I NEED to get better photos. The yarn isn’t straight black, it has a lot of dark blue in it, and the beads are a gorgeous silver-lined turquoise. I adore this thing.

In reading news, I’m back into fiction! I don’t know what sparked it, but the day I finished a pretty awful true-crime thing called Needle Work, I got the urge to start reading The Book of Lost Things. A few hours later, I’d finished it and had a new favorite book. It’s amazing. The next day, I read The Graveyard Book (also really really good) and started World War Z. Today I read Thunderstruck, which I didn’t really care for, and tomorrow I’m going back to the library to get more! I’m so happy that I’m finally back into reading fiction that I’ve been neglecting my poor knitting, a bit. Ah well, I’m sure I’ll balance the two eventually.

8 months. 8 MONTHS I’ve been looking for a job and had no calls, no interviews, nothing.

This week? Two interviews in three days. Both are jobs I’d probably quite like. One is at Michael’s (the craft store) and the other is at REI (outdoor sporting/camping goods store). I’m a little nervous, because while the Michael’s job would be ok, I REALLY want the REI job, but the Michael’s interview is first.

Anyway, knitting stuff. You came here for that, right? Well here’s half an FO:

This is a test knit I signed up to do on Ravelry. The pattern is called Violin Socks, and the yarn is Malabrigo sock. I’m about 2/3 done with the leg on the 2nd sock, but I don’t have a photo of that yet.

That’s really all I’m working on that’s worth showing yet. I have two or three more projects but such little progress that there’s no point taking a photo. However, I got some mail today! A while ago, I signed up for the Knitgirllls spin-a-long. I didn’t end up liking the fiber we got very much, so I asked a friend to drum card it and I got the finished batts back today. They’re gorgeous!